The Reassurance of Ghosts

By Jon M. Obermeyer

"Jon's poems insist on skirting close to the edge, in grappling head-on the materials they address. In expressing matter that almost evades expression, "Ghosts" is strong stuff, strongest perhaps when it rejects the seemingly inevitable" - Fred Chappell"What defines Jon Obermeyer's poetry is a trust of plain speech and sure-footed humility; a willingness to let circumstance wash over, but not wash away. "Rethink it, your life. Everywhere you lived is just a ledge, a place you could have easily tumbled from," Obermeyer says. Here is life-from Scouts and Soap Box Derby, to marriage, to the loss of a parent and the moment we must face our own mortality-in poems drifting across the landscapes and cities of America. These are poems of remembrance-of childhood, of family, of daily routine-and testimony to a moving and personal search for understanding. But The Reassurance of Ghosts is more than witness; Obermeyer eventually shows us that the cresting wave we ride from the moment we're born is, ultimately, what we're meant to hold on to. "The starter's gun goes off, the slide quickly drops . . . It happens that fast." Terry L. Kennedy, author of New River Breakdown"Jon Obermeyer was a student of the brilliant Robert Watson and one thing he learned from Watson was to find his own voice. These splendid poems are distinctly his, diction, lyricism, and meaning uniting to let us see what he sees, hear what he hears, feel what he feels. Acquiring the Signal is what we must all learn to do. This book is both important and refreshing." Kelly Cherry, author of The Life and Death of Poetry: Poems (LSU Press), formerly Poet Laureate, VirginiaJon's carefully crafted poems-offering honest takes on hoarding grandmothers, late-night libertines, connoisseurs of the clever-show us how to tune in to something as strange and heart-breaking as everyday life. -John Thomas York, author of Cold Spring Rising and Naming the Constellations"The Reassurance of Ghosts" is Jon Obermeyer's debut collection, representing 40 years of poems. A former student of Robert Watson and Fred Chappell, Jon fulfills the promise with 140 finely-wrought, captivating narratives, full of immediacy and a clever, playful love of our language. While you can no longer consider Jon a young, undiscovered poet, what we see here is a consummate artisan working at full-force power and reach.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1537647946
• ISBN13: 9781537647944
• Release Date: September 2016
• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Length: 188 Pages
• Weight: 0.76 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.4" x 6.0"